Has anyone noticed?

Golo100

Bronze
Jan 5, 2002
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-For the last 4 days Santo Domingo has become one of the most polluted cities in the world. The entire city, from Kil.28 toll to Boca Chica is engulfed in a cloud of blackened dark ash particles that looks like a volcano has erupted. Homes, apartments and cars are covered with this dark dust with pieces as large as three inches long. Some say sugar cane is being burned, while others blame Santo Domingo Este township authorities for burning excess trash. It is almost impossible to avoid having these residues inside homes, even if all windows are closed. No one, including our inefficient government is doing something about it. They are too busy campaigning. The citizens of this polluted city remain quiet about it, just like everything else.

-Who would imagine that we would be marvelling at a special price for chicken at $42.50lb. or Santo Domingo coffe at $53lb.?
-The lines at Banco Central for the 50% certificates is as long as the Verazzano Bridge. It will be equally long for redemption, if not worst. Government officials and money exchange houses are in complicity in the latest fraud of bringing down the dollar artificially to about $48 to $1 so fools can sell their dollars and Hippo officials turn into rich magnates. Vimenca continues to take your dollars cheap, but selling you only $100 tops at a great profit. This will turn Vimenca chief into one of the richest men in America.
-Banco Popular chief Grullon continues to act as a gopher for Hipolito. He made it possible to gather a bunch of "yes" people from our business community to serve as advisory group and a nice photo session, so that Hippo can show during his reelection campaign. Grullon, of course, is enjoying the dollar party promoted by Hippo and his Central Bank chief.
-Want to import a car cheap? If you got the cash, just go to the national palace and make an announcement that you want to buy an "exoneracion" and suddenly someone will direct you to one of hundreds of officials who will be selling theirs for upwards of $1,000,000 stinky pesos. Of course, you can import an expensive jeepeta or luxury car and make it up by selling it afterwards with a healthy profit. Or you can just drive you own Lamborghini Gallardo by paying as little as $1,000,000 pesos extra, for a car that pays well over $5,000,000 in taxes!!!

-Warning to foreign home buyers:The old option of buying for "construction prices", "blueprint prices" is now a dangerous risk. While prices for homes and apartments in this category are incredibly attractive, the risk of losing your entire investment is almost 80% sure. Engineers and architects are now in this practice trying to recover their losses in investments they made in dollars, when it was cheap to take dollar loans. But since repayment of these loans has to come from buying dollars with davalued pesos, these-once-smart decisions have now turned into terrible blunders. The enginners to recoup losses are now creating new projects with no hope of ever finishing them up, but taking you down payments to repay their bad loans. The new projects are never finished, but you still lose and if you take a loan you still have to pay it.
Golo
 

ltsnyder

Bronze
Jun 4, 2003
624
0
16
www.x3ci.com
I witnessed something similar in Puerto Plata

Fine filaments of ash come lightly down on the wind, no smell of smoke, no activity in the area. The ash was black and paractially floated in the air. It came sooo out of the blue, I thought it was a giant insect. I finally figured out that they were doing cane field clearing very far up wind. How ever, I have seen many smelly trash fires around Puerto Plata also. If there is no smell associated with it, I'd assume it is the clearing of cane fields. Another note, the burning of plastic in a typical trash fire (not a high tempiture incinerator produces a tremendous amount of Dioxyn ( a cancer causing contaminant, it is best to avoid plastic trash fires and discourage them as much as possible. Example Given, in the US rural resident have collected more Dioxyin exposure than city folk due to the common use of trash fires.

-Lee
 

DCfred

New member
Jun 19, 2003
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Hmm, could it be government documents being burnt in anticipation of May 16?
 

carsey700

New member
Dec 5, 2003
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Just returned from Juan Dolio wind had been predominatly from the north and swung to the east last couple of days , did notice light coloured ash one night . skies wre clear at night sunny ahd warm during the day a little cloud but not from smoke.
 

Chirimoya

Well-known member
Dec 9, 2002
17,850
982
113
Hmm, could it be government documents being burnt in anticipation of May 16?

No, they still think they are going to win. If/when they lose, they have three months to burn and loot to their hearts' content.

Chiri
 

Hillbilly

Moderator
Jan 1, 2002
18,948
514
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Pictures in today's papers show that

it was sugar cane fields ablaze...

HB
 

PJT

Silver
Jan 8, 2002
3,562
298
83
Volcano ash anyone?

This is a long shot not to be ruled out. The cause could be the volcano on the island of Montserrat in the Leeward Islands 400 miles to the southeast of the D.R.s east coast.

There was an eruption this Wednesday past sending clouds of ash up to 20,000 feet.

Now we need an opinion from XR about the prevailing wind direction up to 20,000 feet.

Regards,
PJT
 

Talldrink

El Mujeron
Jan 7, 2004
2,209
42
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Golo100 said:
-

-Want to import a car cheap? If you got the cash, just go to the national palace and make an announcement that you want to buy an "exoneracion" and suddenly someone will direct you to one of hundreds of officials who will be selling theirs for upwards of $1,000,000 stinky pesos. Of course, you can import an expensive jeepeta or luxury car and make it up by selling it afterwards with a healthy profit. Or you can just drive you own Lamborghini Gallardo by paying as little as $1,000,000 pesos extra, for a car that pays well over $5,000,000 in taxes!!!

-Warning to foreign home buyers:The old option of buying for "construction prices", "blueprint prices" is now a dangerous risk. While prices for homes and apartments in this category are incredibly attractive, the risk of losing your entire investment is almost 80% sure. Engineers and architects are now in this practice trying to recover their losses in investments they made in dollars, when it was cheap to take dollar loans. But since repayment of these loans has to come from buying dollars with davalued pesos, these-once-smart decisions have now turned into terrible blunders. The enginners to recoup losses are now creating new projects with no hope of ever finishing them up, but taking you down payments to repay their bad loans. The new projects are never finished, but you still lose and if you take a loan you still have to pay it.
Golo

Golo I heard a lot people were taking for a ride with the house scam. Some dont get the houses AT ALL, and the others get the cheapest odd looking 4 walls you can imagine for the price of mantion. Another thing is the that they promise you one neighborhood and they end up giving you a house in another section. Very typical.

The cars: Can you explain that to me again? Thanks.
 

Conchman

Silver
Jul 3, 2002
4,586
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www.oceanworld.net
The Monserrat theory is quite plausible, depending on wind conditions. Other vulcanoes have transmitted ash over thousands of miles before, not just hundreds.
 

arturo

Bronze
Mar 14, 2002
1,336
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burning ash: volcanic or sugar cane?

I was on St. Maarten during the last major volcanic eruption on Dominica. The ash was white, as it was during the famous Mt. St. Helens disaster. What has been accumulating on cars, outdoor meals, and residential interiors has been black ash.

The cane field burning is a semi annual event to "re-condition" the fields. When the direction of prevailing winds and the number of fields being burned simultaneously combine as they have during the past week, the result is the high level of ash and very fine particulate that has been causing people, especially asthmatics, significant respiratory distress. Hospitals and clinics are reporting a spike in patients with respiratory symptoms. I had to take sinus medecine several days last week to function normally. It seems to be getting better since Friday night, but some of us felt some irritation in the early afternoon last Saturday.
 

Chirimoya

Well-known member
Dec 9, 2002
17,850
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We were driving through the cane fields north of Boca Chica yesterday and my husband took some dramatic pics of the burning fields. I'll try and post some later.

Chiri
 

samiam

Bronze
Mar 5, 2003
592
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Chirimoya said:
No, they still think they are going to win. If/when they lose, they have three months to burn and loot to their hearts' content.

Chiri

Three months??!!Try right now!!!!
Our systems consultant here has a couple of "chiripas' with some government agencies and he has told me that people are starting to take home computer equipment already.
Expect leonel's future dispatch to be left with a couple of plastic chairs, an old olivetti and a makeshift desk of blocks and plywood!!